


Din Djarin and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Time Travel Incident

by demondogs



Series: Star Wars fics [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Good Parent Din Djarin, Grogu | Baby Yoda Being a Little Shit, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29078967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demondogs/pseuds/demondogs
Summary: All Din wanted to do was check in on his son at the temple, instead he’s 30 years in the past and accidentally convinced some jedi into thinking he’s traveled forward in time rather than backwards. The force is weird.Basically Din ends up in the clone wars but through his lack of pre-empire knowledge and Anakin’s willingness to jump to conclusions, Din has accidentally convinced the old jedi order that he’s an ancient mandalorian.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Star Wars fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2195778
Comments: 307
Kudos: 1191





	1. Grogu causes problems on purpose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din goes to check on Grogu after a message from Luke, trouble happens shortly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I wrote fanfic so things might be a bit rough at first as I get back into it!  
> I am in school so I don't know how regularly I'll be posting but hopefully there won't be too long between chapters. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (I will be adding characters and tags as they appear but I didn't want to give some stuff away too soon!)

The whole situation started the way most of Din’s problems did, with someone asking for help.

It had been 2 days since Luke had called, in slight panic, asking if Din could stop by the temple for a bit. Something about nephews and lightsabers that ended with a thanks in advance and one frazzled Jedi master quickly cutting off his com. Din had set out immediately, getting in his ship and leaving without a word to anyone else. He’d eventually sent messages explaining where he was going, but that was after a day and a few hundred pings from people looking for the Mand'alor. By the time he touched down and walked the short distance to the temple Din couldn’t care less about the state of a kingdom he didn’t want in the first place.

“Jedi? you here?” The words echoed off of the old stones, cleaner than his last visit and repaired in some places as well. Slowly Din continued his walk through the halls of the lost home, taking in the work Luke and others must’ve done to restore it back to what it once was. Stopping he could pick up sounds from further in the temple, and following them lead him out into a courtyard. Din was not surprised to see the Jedi children, grogu toddling sweetly behind, in the middle of trying to tackle Luke to the ground. 

“Ah! Mr. Djarin, or Mand'alor, or just help please?” Luke called as one of the kids finally found purchase to climb onto the Jedi’s back, giving way for the others to swarm Luke’s legs. 

Din made his way over, scooping up Grogu before steading the man before him. Surrounded by a small group of children with one latched onto his back Luke tried to catch his breath. 

“I hope you weren’t in the middle of something when I called, but the kids” he winced as the boy on his back wiggled, kicking little feet into ribs, “The kids have decided to try and win my lightsaber in combat, and well I don’t want to accuse anyone but, ah Ben please don’t pull my hair, but ever since Grogu shared how you gained your saber things have been…” Luke trailed off waving one hand while the other tried and failed to dislodge the boy, Ben, from his head.

“Difficult”, Din finished for him.

“ _Interesting_ ”, Luke countered with a strained smile. “If you could perhaps talk to him about it? I-I don’t mean that he can’t partake in your culture, that’s a very important part of him but if there is a way he can do so that doesn’t result in me fighting kids all hours of the day I would love to hear it.”

Nodding Din looked down at his ad’ika, big eyes stared back up. “I’ll talk to him” he said, Luke seemed to relax at that and quickly straightened again to fend off more children. Din turned to walk away, “But I can’t promise anything, Jedi!” He called back, laughing at the groan from the man behind him, and made his way into the temple.

His footsteps echoed in the empty halls as he moved further from the courtyard. He made his way to one of the rooms he had seen on his way in, and closed the door. Din gently placed Grogu on the floor, before kneeling down to his ad’s height. As he removed his helmet Grogu cooed and reached out for him.

“Ad’ika…” Din started, “Your teacher’s sword and the darksaber aren’t the same. You can’t win his in combat.”

Big eyes stared up at Din, focused and bright.

“And Luke told me that when you're old enough you’ll get a sword as well.”

“ _Eh_?”

“No, I can’t get you one. Just give it time ok?” 

Grogu tilted his head, before letting out a huff. Nodding, or at least Din hoped it was nodding, he seemed to be agreeing with his father.

“Ok… Ok”, Din said with a sigh, and placed his helmet back on, “Let’s get you back to the group, hopefully your friends haven’t taken over the school yet.” However as Din opened the door Grogu rushed out not towards the courtyard but instead to further in the temple. Din silently cursed and jogged to catch up to little feet pitter pattering across the hall. He tried to pick up his ad but only got his hands batted away by little claws and grumpy noises of displeasure.

Resigning himself to following his ad’s new adventure Din trailed behind his ad'ika as they went further and further into the temple. Din noticed that the walls here had yet to be restored, though there were temporary supports in place meaning that Luke was aware of the disrepair. Eventually Grogu stopped at a dead end and seemed to wander around the chamber making noises of confusion. Content to let his ad get this out of his system Din leaned back against a wall to wait the little one out.

The wall shifted behind him and before Din could react he found himself laying flat on his back with the dust and rubble settling around him. With a groan he sat up only to be pushed down as Grogu scampered across him to get into the newly made room. Sitting himself up once more he turned and took in the hidden outcove they had discovered.

“Is this what you were so worked up about?” Din asked, the room itself wasn’t much. It had a few shelves that held more dust than items and some pots scattered on the ground. At the back of the room there was a small pedestal with a strange rock resting atop it. It was this object that Grogu was in the process of getting. The child had climbed onto a nearby pot and was reaching out to grab the stone. Din could already see how this would end.

Din got up off the floor, dusting himself off as he watched Grogu reach out for the stone. Little hands leaning further and further until the pot followed suit. It happened so suddenly that Din barely registered rushing forward to grab his ad before he hit the floor. Sliding in, Din managed to catch Grogu before he could hit the floor. In doing so he also managed to crash into the pedestal that the mystery stone rested on. His movement dislodged the stone from it’s spot and it fell directly into the little claws of Grogu. Before Din could check on his ad the room filled with light and all he could do was wrap himself around Grogu to keep the child safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was shorter then the next ones will most likely be, like I said I'm trying to get back into writing fanfic!


	2. Anakin counts some dots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Obi-wan are exploring an ancient temple. What happens next will not surprise you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from Anakin's POV! Just adding that in case you're expecting more Din. I'll most likely be switching back and forth between the Jedi and Din to get both sides view of the events.

Anakin was not having the best of days. The council had sent the 501st and the 212th to some abandoned temple in the outer rim, taking them away from being able to help in the war effort. The planet was full of dense jungle making it hard for the ships to land close to the crumbling building which meant hiking through the wilderness for a few hours rather than a quick stop. But they had finally reached the summit that apparently held such an important piece of history.

“Anakin, I’m sure even Coruscant can hear your brooding”, Obi-wan stated, pulling Anakin from his thoughts. He could see Ahsoka trying to hide her laughter behind her hand, but her shaking montrals gave the source of muffled giggles away.

“Master, I just don’t get why we even _need_ to be here.” Anakin gestured around him, “How can this run down place help the war at all?”

Obi-wan sighed, “We’ve been over this, the council believes that there may be some ancient artifacts and holocrons hidden here. If we find them before Dooku does then their knowledge could help us in the long run.”

“Well if it was soooo important maybe the council should’ve come instead rather than pulling us from the front, where we’re _actually_ needed.”

Obi-wan opened his mouth the reply but paused as the trio were approached by Rex. The captain stopped slightly unsure of if he should interrupt their conversation. Obi-wan gave Anakin a look and waved Rex over.

“We’ve done a quick sweep of the area sirs, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of separatists. Seems like this place hasn’t had visitors in years.” 

“Looks like it too.” Ashoka piped up, “Makes sense with the last time Jedi actually living here being before the Mandalorian wars.” 

Anakin blinked, “And how do you know that snips?”

“One of us had to read the report Master Obi-wan put together, and I knew it wouldn’t be you Master!”

Anakin bristled, “Hey! I read the report!”

3 pairs of eyes stared back at him, Obi-wan even had the nerve to raise an eyebrow.

“Alright I skimmed it, but you can’t exactly blame me for not finding 20 pages of ancient history riveting.” Anakin grumbled. 

“Regardless, if you had read my report you would’ve learned that the temple was abandoned around the time of the Mandalorian wars. It’s distance from other temples had worried the Jedi living here causing them to quickly pack up and leave for closer places to live.” Obi-wan explained. “All we must do is check for anything that might’ve been forgotten in that move.”

“We should probably split up then”, Anakin offered, “Cover more ground and get this done quickly. If they were leaving then I doubt that they would forget anything important.”

“In that case I call Rex!” Ahsoka shouted, grabbing Rex’s arm, she pulled him along as she rushed to the temple, “We’ll take some clones to the west side and you two can grab some to check out the east.” She called back to them. Before either man could respond the teen and captain had already gone into the temple followed by a group of clones Ahsoka had motioned to on her way in.

“I see you’ve been teaching her well Anakin”, Obi-wan chuckled, “That was quite the ‘skywalker’ move.”

“Haha.”

Obi-wan called over a few clones, including Cody, to join them on their exploration of the east side of the temple. It was a rather boring experience, long hallways of cracked and crumbling stones seemed to be their only company. They stopped in a few rooms to carefully pick through some rubble. One of the 212th clones, Sketch if Anakin was remembering correctly, was taking pictures to document some of the broken objects they found along their path.

Walking further led them to see growing vines and other foliage that had overtaken this part of the temple. The plant growth covered both walls and floor alike, more than once Obi-wan or Anakin had to cut through it in order to search a blocked off room or hall. As they walked through more and more empty rooms and navigated the plant covered terrain Anakin started to get annoyed.

“There’s nothing here.” He grumbled, kicking off another vine that had managed to twist it’s way around his ankle, “Master at this point we’re more likely to find a new type of plant then anything left by past Jedi.”

“Patience Anakin”, Obi-wan was also untangling himself from the plants covering the floor, “We must not rush this, it would be unfortunate if we overlooked an important piece of history in our haste.”

“Sirs”, Cody called from further up the hall, “Seems that there’s a small courtyard up ahead. As well as another hallway.”

“Thank you Cody”, Obi-wan looked to Anakin, “We should stop in the courtyard and check in with Ahsoka, perhaps she’s found more than we have.”

Nodding Anakin continued to make his way towards Cody and the courtyard. He stopped to help a clone untangle himself from the roots on the floor and the group slowly worked their way along the hall. Reaching the courtyard they were greeted with overgrown plant life, and watched as a few animals scurried back into the heavy brush. Taking out his com Anakin called Ahsoka.

“Anakin?”

“Hey snips, just checking in, you find anything interesting?”

“Not really, mostly just dust and crumbling stones. Though Fives did find a couple of pots in one of the rooms”, Ahsoka paused, “Anything on your end?”

“All we got is a bunch of plant life, led us straight to an overgrown courtyard. But otherwise the same as you” He answered, “We’re checking out one last hall before heading back, if you’ve checked out your side completely then head out as well and meet us at the entrance of the temple.”

“You got it!” Ahsoka answered, “Hear that men? We’re almost done!” She called, voiced muffled, most likely due to her turning away from the com. Anakin ended the call grinning at his padawan’s antics.

He turned back to his group, Obi-wan and Cody seemed to be quietly talking to each other as the other clones collected some samples of the overgrown plants. Looking up to the ceiling Anakin took in the broken glass panels from the courtyard roof. He had been right, this trip had been a waste of time. Instead of being able to actually help people they had already spent a day walking around the wilderness just to explore a crumbling empty temple. 

“Anakin”, Obi-wan called, “What did Ahsoka say?”

“She had better luck than us, I’m told they found some pots.” He joked, and smiled when Obi-wan responded with a chuckle, “I told her that if she was finished her group should make their way back to the front and we’d meet up after that last hall.”

Obi-wan nodded, “A good plan, I have to say that you may have been right in this being a slight waste of time.”

“Of course I was right.” Anakin grinned.

“Brat.” Obi-wan responded with a smirk.

The group left the courtyard heading down the hall, they passed by another room that held a few shelves covered in dust. As they went further from the courtyard they found the walls in this part of the temple had more cracks and missing pieces then the previous parts had been. The ceiling was crumbling and they had to walk carefully to not disrupt too much of the surrounding supports. If the rest of the temple had been showing its age then this part was on the edge of collapse. Most of its support seemed to come from the vines growing out of the courtyard, the thick roots binding stones together and preventing pieces from falling. 

As they neared the end of the hall they could see a dead end, covered in dust and untouched by the plant life. It was as if the vines knew to avoid what was beyond the entryway. Obi-wan carefully investigated the vines that curled away from the final room.

“Fascinating, it’s as if they’re scared of what is beyond this hall.” He announced, turning back to the group, “I think we may have found something quite interesting.”

“Sir, are you sure this is safe”, Cody questioned, “If the vines won’t enter should _we_ be doing so?”

Obi-wan opened his mouth to respond when from behind him one of the walls started to glow, beams of bright light leaking out from the cracks between stones and shining onto the opposite wall. The group could only stare as the light slowly faded leaving the room dark once more. The force felt… off after the light was gone. It was heavy with a presence that had not existed prior to the lights.

“Anakin?” Obi-wan questioned not even turning to his past padawan.

“Yeah?”

“I have a-” Obi-wan started.

“Sir please don’t”

“Bad feeling about this”, Obi-wan finished. Behind the Jedi they could both hear Cody sigh.

It was at that moment, as the heavy weight seemed to settle around them, that the wall the light had emerged from was suddenly broken open and a confused Mandalorian in full beskar stumbled into the room. The Mandalorian in front of them seemed to be silently panicked looking around the room as if he hadn’t seen it before, then as if suddenly taking notice of the other group he stopped. Anakin stared at the expressionless helmet, as he drew lightsaber. He could tell that Obi-wan had his out as well and from the sounds of shifting behind him Anakin assumed that the clones had readied their blasters.

In response to the sudden threat of a fight the Mandalorian took a spear from his back and held it, his stance spoke of hands-on experience with using it. Anakin then noticed that while the armored man was ready to fight he was in a defensive stance, rather than posed to attack. There was sudden movement from behind the man, and out peaked the tiny head and large ears of what appeared to be a youngling of yoda’s species. It was then that the mystery man spoke.

“Are you Jedi?”

Anakin had to stop himself from dropping open his mouth. “Are _we_ Jedi?”

The man in front of him nodded.

“You’ve got a sword, Jedi have those.” The man explained as if _Anakin_ was the one asking a stupid question. 

Anakin turned to Obi-wan, who thankfully seemed just as confused as he felt. Looking back to the Mandalorian he turned off his lightsaber.

“Yes. We’re jedi.” Anakin answered.

With that the man seemed to relax, placing his spear once more onto his back. He reached down and picked up the child who quickly settled in the man’s arms, it seemed natural as if the child had been held by the man many times before. The child looked at them with big eyes, and Anakin could feel a curious poke through the force. He sent one back and the kid cooed before reaching up to pat the helmet of the man holding them. The man looked down at the child in his arms before returning his gaze to them.

“Did you do this to the temple? Luke’s going to be upset if you trashed the place.” The Mandalorian spoke, breaking the silence that had collected.

“Luke?” Obi-wan questioned.

“The Jedi who lives here?” The man answered.

Anakin grabbed Obi-wan’s arm before he could respond, “Could you give us a sec Mr…” 

The Mandalorian did not give a name.

“Yeah, ok, just one second then.” Anakin finished dragging Obi-wan to huddle with the clones. “Before you call me crazy just hear me out ok?”

Obi-wan looked back at the Mandalorian, who was standing awkwardly in the other room, before nodding.

Anakin took a deep breath in, “What if, and I know it sounds crazy, but what if that Mandalorian is a time traveler.”

Obi-wan gave Anakin a look at the same time as Cody sighed beside him.  
“Anakin... why would your first thought be that that man is a time traveler?”

“Ok! Ok! So you said that this temple hasn’t been used since before the Mandalorian wars, and he’s a Mandalorian, and!” He quietly exclaimed before Obi-wan could interrupt, “He mentioned a _Jedi_ living here. Also he’s talking about the place like it’s all of a sudden cracked and crumbling!”

Anakin took in a breath, “He also is completely fine with us being Jedi. When was the last time you met a Mandalorian, wearing full armor, that relaxed at the knowledge of Jedi?”

Obi-wan seemed to be taking in Anakin’s proof, weighing the claim. Anakin felt a bit like a padawan again, awaiting an answer from his Master. 

Finally Obi-wan spoke, “Time travel?”

Anakin nodded, “Time travel.”

Obi-wan stroked at his beard before turning back to the man, who was now letting the child in his arms play with his hand. Anakin decided to ignore the disbelief radiating off of Cody. 

“Excuse me, Mandalorian?” Obi-wan slowly made his way to the other man, “If you don’t mind me asking but how did you get here?”

The Mandalorian paused, his helmet moving to face Obi-wan.

“I flew in on my ship.”

“You… flew in?”

The Mandalorian gave a quick nod. “Yes.”

Obi-wan took a breath, “And why did you fly in?”

“To do a favor.”

“For?”

“Luke.”

Obi-wan narrowed his eyes, his voice flat, “The Jedi?”

The Mandalorian nodded once more, “The Jedi.”

“Of course”, Obi-wan forced out, “One moment.” He turned back to the rest of the group before looking Anakin in the eyes.

“Time travel”, Obi-wan exhaled.

“ _Time travel_ ”, Anakin echoed with glee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I do have classes during the week so next chapter will probably be Friday or Saturday. I also want to thank my friend Erin because they basically wrote that ending bit.
> 
> Also originally Anakin was gonna think Grogu was Yoda as a baby but while checking dates I realized that time line wise that wouldn't work with what I had for the temple lol. But here's what _would_ have happened if I kept that in:
> 
> Din, confused: Are you jedi? Can you do that magic with your hands?  
> Anakin and Obi-wan: Just give us a minute!  
> Anakin, huddling with Obi-wan: is that yoda as a baby?  
> Obi-wan: No?...No. Yoda would've.. Yoda would've told us he had spent time with a Mandalorian as a child.  
> Anakin: would he though? _would he_?
> 
> Anyways hope you enjoyed! :)


	3. Din talks to people (badly)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din has questions, answers questions, and earns more questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Din's POV! 
> 
> Enjoy!

This was not what Din had expected when he broke through a wall. He had been alarmed when the light had faded to find himself and Grogu in a closed off room, the wall he had fallen through in place as if he hadn’t touched it at all. Bursting through it again he fully expected to be face to face with some jed’ika giggling up a storm from their most recent prank. Instead he was welcomed with two new Jedi and a handful of Mandalorians looking just as confused as he felt. The questions they had asked him were odd, how could these newcomers have made it this far into Luke’s temple and yet not know the man?

Currently the two Jedi seemed to be having a heated discussion, a discussion that was exciting the taller one more and more as time went on. His shorter companion seemed stuck between agreement and disbelief. The Mandalorians all seemed to still be on edge about him, a change of pace from the normal reaction Din was used to as more and more people learned of his newly gained title. With little to do Din took in the room around him. If it had been bad before it was worse now. The cracks that had been sealed were now open again and dust seemed to be falling at a steady rate. Stones were crumbling and broken pieces decorated the floor.

Grogu drew Din’s attention downwards, his ad’ika making little noises and tapping against his armor with his sought after stone. 

“Careful ad’ika”, Din softly grabbed Grogu’s tiny hand, engulfing both it and the stone. “Wouldn’t want you to break this so soon after finding it.”

Huffing, the ad used his magic to tug at Din’s belt, making him stagger forward. This caught the attention of the two bickering Jedi, but Din was focused on what was bothering his ad. He ignored the questioning glances from the men as he took in the room once more. The only changes were that one of the Mandalorians had moved closer, but the falling dust was sti-

“Move!” Din yelled, dragging the other Mandalorian out of the room. He skidded to a stop in the hall, one arm firm around the surprised Mandalorian’s waist while the other held Grogu close to his chest. They watched as the roof from the other room collapsed, sunlight pouring through the newly made skylight as the temple settled once more.

The Mandalorian Din still held in his arms cleared their throat, “You can uh, you can let go of me.” He had his helmet turned away from Din and he carefully removed his arm, double checking that neither the Mandolaorian or Grogu had been hurt from the falling rubble.

“Is anyone hurt?” Din asked, taking in the rest of the group. The other Mandalorians had their blasters out, caught off guard by Din’s sudden shout. Off to the side he could see the two Jedi giving each other looks.

“We’re all fine.” The shorter Jedi responded, “How did you know that the ceiling was unstable?”

Din stared at the man.

“Mandalorian?” The man questioned once more.

“It’s my ad.” Din explained, “His magic sensed danger.”

The Jedi both lit up at this and moved closer. 

“So he can use the force!”, the taller Jedi beamed, “We thought it had been him earlier too but didn’t wanna assume or anything. I mean I’m sure some mandalorians can use it too but you guys sorta hate Je-”

“What Anakin is trying to say is that your child has quite the gift.” The shorter Jedi interrupted.

“I know.” Din removed the stone from Grogu’s mouth, “He goes to school.”

“Right. With Luke.” The shorter Jedi sighed. 

The Mandalorian that Din had grabbed cleared his throat.

“General?”

“Yes Cody?”

“We should try to leave this area, I don’t want to find out if more of this place is just as unstable as that room was.” Cody explained.

Looking back at the rubble that once was a ceiling the Jedi, or General perhaps, nodded. Din once again found himself at the center of attention.

“I’ll follow you out, see if I can get in contact with Luke from my ship.” 

The Jedi shared another look between them. Rather than respond Din watched as Anakin moved past him and turned to follow. The walk out was almost unrecognizable, the clean walls that had greeted him only moments before were now covered in vines. Din had to move carefully, avoiding the heavy roots covering the floor in order to not fall flat on his face. Eventually the group found themselves back at the courtyard and Din paused to look out into the overgrown weeds. What had once been a neat yard of trimmed grass was now wild and rundown. Din could hardly believe that this was the same place that Luke allowed the students to run and play in.

“Mandalorian?” a voice broke him from his thoughts. He turned to find the group staring at him. Questions later Din decided, better to not be at risk of falling stones when it could be avoided. 

Din moved past the group, wanting to get out of the temple as fast as he could. He needed to reach his ship and call Luke or Cara or someone he knew that could explain what had happened. As he moved further from the courtyard it became easier to walk, the vines no longer covering every inch of stone and tile. Eventually he emerged from the temple and was greeted to a vast forest. The stairs leading from where he had landed were now covered in moss and dirt, if Din hadn’t known where to look he might’ve missed them all together. Before he could move to look for his ship Din suddenly heard the ignition of a lightsaber and several blasters being cocked.

“Who are you and what have you done with my Master!” A young voice shouted. Din turned around and found himself face to face with a young togruta, behind the teen were more Mandalorians. The Mandalorians had blue markings rather than the yellow of the ones he had met earlier, and Din was unsure if they were together or from separate clans.

“Your Master?” He questioned, hand slowly inching towards his pistol.

The teen growled, barring sharp teeth at Din’s response.

“Don’t play dumb! We were the only ones at this temple. If you’ve hurt him I’ll-”

“Stand down men!” Anakin called, rushing out the temple with the rest of the group Din had left behind, “Snips it’s fine he’s with us.”

That seemed to calm the teen, though the Mandalorians still kept their blasters at the ready. The togruta moved over to Anakin and the General. Din found himself once again standing awkwardly as a group of Jedi spoke in hushed whispers. Cody and his clan had moved to speak to the blue Mandalorians, they also seemed to be having their own private conversation. Eventually the togruta started quickly glancing between Anakin and Din, shock on her face.

“What do you mean TI-”

Anakin started to shush Snips, Din really needed to ask for some names, and gave Din a sheepish grin. The general heaved a sigh and whispered something to the teen. Anakin reacted in annoyance, and started angrily whispering something back. Din watched as once again the two Jedi started another quiet argument. As the Jedi bickered Din realized that he was about to be approached by two of the Mandalorians, one was Cody who was trying to stop or divert the blue one.

“Did you really scoop Cody up like he was a blushing maiden?” The blue one said, glee apparent in his voice. “Because Gus said you did.” 

“Rex I swear to the force if you don’t shu-”

“Please tell me you did.” Rex interrupted Cody, covering Cody’s helmet like it would stop his complaints.

“I didn’t… scoop him.” Din shifted taken aback at the question, “It was more of a tackle.”

If anything that made Rex more excited. He turned to shout back at the rest of the Mandalorians but was stopped by Cody pulling him into a headlock. Din watched the two, who were most likely vod¹ or at least aliit², wrestle against each other for a bit. The other Mandalorians silently cheered the two on, each group calling for one of the men to win. The fight ended quickly with Cody twisting Rex’s arm until he tapped out, definitely vod then. Looking over Din could see the three Jedi watching with amusement in their eyes. 

Din stared at the trio, they seemed so different from the Jedi he was used to. Perhaps spending time with Mandalorians had changed them? Or this may be another sect of Jedi, Luke might’ve mentioned it at some point. Was that why they didn’t know of the Jedi? It would be rude to assume that Luke knew all Jedi, Din should know better than to jump to conclusions with things like this. 

Mentally shaking himself from his thoughts Din realized that the Jedi had noticed his unwavering gaze and were staring, or in the case of Snips glaring, right back at him. Din tilted his head, inviting them to speak first. Awkwardly the General cleared his throat.

“Mandalorian, we need to… clear up some lingering questions that we may have.” The General walked closer to him moving past Rex and Cody. “Just a few things to go over and we can be on our way.”

Din looked down at Grogu and once again removed the stone from his ad’s mouth. Looking back to the General he gave a nod.

“Let's start with an easy one, who is the current chancellor of the republic?” The General bore his eyes into Din’s helmet, only years of facing the armorer’s silent gaze stopped him from fidgeting.

Din had to think for a second, Luke had told him that his sister was aiding in the set up of a new republic but he’d had the politics of Mandalore to focus on instead. Still Din didn’t think that the galaxy was much better at deciding elected officials than the current clan leaders that followed him. 

“I don’t think they’ve decided yet.”

Behind the General the two Jedi and gaggle of Mandalorians stilled, Din had a feeling that that was not the answer he was supposed to give.

“What is your name?” The General continued.

“Most people call me Mando.” Or at least they did but Din was not going to share his name if he had the choice not to.

“Of course.” an eye twitch, “And I suppose that we can not know the child’s either?”

“That’s correct.”

“How about the year? Do you know what year it is?”

“Nine.” 

“Nine?” The General clenched his hand, “Nine what?”

“Nine ABY.”

“What is _ABY_?” 

“It’s a battle, either things are before or after it.” Din shrugged, “Kinda annoying to learn but everyone uses it so…”

The General took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, it reminded Din of Luke. Though Luke reserved those sighs for when he believed himself to be alone after the jed’ika had gone to sleep.

“Do you know who I am?” The General crossed his arms, he looked… expectant. Din searched his memories for any bit of information Luke could’ve given that would help him. He found nothing but the promise to listen more closely to the Jedi’s rants in the future.

“A Jedi?” It sounded silly to say it out loud but Din had nothing else to give the man.

“A Jedi?” The General seemed to be taken aback by his answer. Din noticed that the other two Jedi were snickering behind the man. Din really should’ve paid more attention to Luke.

“I’m Obi-wan Kenobi.” The Gener- _Obi-wan_ narrowed his eyes.

“Good for you?”

Anakin and Snips weren’t hiding their laughter now, the two looked close to falling over with glee. So Obi-wan definitely was someone Din should’ve known, Luke was going to kill him.

“I’m a high general of the GAR and a member of the Jedi Council!” Obi-wan said through gritted teeth.

That made no sense, the New Republic had generals but most had stepped down once the empire had been defeated. Not to mention that Luke only had himself, that was a conversation Din did remember, so where was this council to help Din’s Jedi?

“Those words mean nothing to me.” Din was not going to lie to the man.

Din was sure that if Obi-wan was less in control of his emotions the Jedi would be quite slack jawed at the moment. The man before him looked at Din with such disbelief that he was tempted to ask if his answers had been satisfactory just to see the man’s reaction. Finally Obi-wan blinked, he straightened back up and gave a slight smile.

“One last question, What is your opinion of the Duchess of Mandalore?”

That caught Din off guard, he shifted before he could stop himself. A wrong move it seemed, as Obi-wan’s smile turned sharp. The man looked as if he’d just figured out a conman’s con. 

“It’s a simple question.”, Obi-wan moved closer, his voice the only sound to be heard. Long gone were the peels of laughter from Anakin and Snips. “What. Is. Your. Opinion. Of. The. Duchess. Of. Mandalore.”

“That’s a trick question.” Din held his ground, he’d faced a krayt dragon, he’d faced **Gideon** the man in front of him did not scare him.

“And why’s that?” Obi-wan stopped, behind him Din could see the others move towards their weapons. 

“Mandalore only has a king.” Din shifted Grogu, angling his ad’ika to easily move him from harm’s way if a fight broke out. “There’s never been a Duchess, so it’s a _trick question_.”

“And who’s this king? Pre?” Obi-wan sneered. 

“Who?” Din didn’t know of a Pre. There was Pre Vizsla but that man was long dead.

“So you follow another terrorist then?” 

“I am not a terrorist.” Din growled. “You can not blame me for **your** failed trick.”

Another wrong answer, Obi-wan moved back, Anakin and Snips flanked the man. Din needed to do something quick. He was good in a fight but not enough to take on three Jedi and a group of Mandalorians whilst trying to protect Grogu as well. Obi-wan was starting to speak, his sword off his belt and ready to be lit. Din ignored the words, his own breathing and heartbeat echoed in his helmet. He could see the other two Jedi shift, prepared to draw their swor- Of course! Din felt like a complete di’kut³, the proof to his words was already on him. He had liked being talked to just as Din, but he would not risk his ad for the chance to be a nobody.

Din quickly reached for the darksaber, he could hear a yell from someone and the ignition of the Jedi’s swords. He pulled the darksaber from his belt and lit it, beyond it’s blade he could see Obi-wan’s face. The Jedi had gone pale and silent, beside him Anakin and Snips were frozen staring at the newly revealed weapon. The Mandalorians had dropped their blasters to their sides unsure of what to do.

“I told you, Mandalore only has a King.” Din switched off the darksaber, his point was made. “No Duchess.”

Din stared directly at Obi-wan, the man had yet to move his sword still lit by his side. The Jedi’s face was pale, his eyes were stuck open in shock fixated on the now powered off darksaber. Din had meant to only end the questioning not to cause such apparent distress in the man. 

“Obi-wan?” Anakin asked, placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder.

That seemed to break the spell, Obi-wan blinked several times before clearing his throat. 

“I… I would like to offer my apologies Mand’alor, perhaps we should make our way back to the ship?” Obi-wan offered, “We can talk more when no longer in the wilderness.”

“No.” Din placed the darksaber back onto his belt, “I need to check on my ship, see if I can get in contact with anyone I know.”

“Mand’alor, look around you! If you had a ship here it is either long gone or buried under nature.” the Jedi gestured around to the forest. “Let us go to our ship, you can try to contact someone there.”

Din took in the forest. It was true the path that he had taken earlier today was now covered in moss and vines. He could no longer see the landing pad nor the ship he arrived in. Sighing, he turned to the group and gave a nod. Obi-wan motioned for him to follow and set off to the forest. The group began their trek back to the Jedi’s ship. The mood had fallen since the darksaber’s ignition and Din felt himself yearning for the jokes and casual nature from before, it’s times like these in which he missed just being Mando and not the Mand’alor.

Din watched as Anakin sped up to walk beside Obi-wan, the two pulling into a one sided conversation with Anakin speaking quietly to the other man. Looking around he could see Snips speaking with some of the Mandalorians. With everyone grouped off Din felt like the odd man out.

“Ad’ika, we’ve truly gotten into something big haven’t we?”

“Buh!”

“Yeah…” Din sighed, “Buh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a used:  
> 1\. Vod: Sibling  
> 2\. Aiilt: Clan/Family  
> 3\. Di'kut: Idiot  
> 4\. Jed'ika: Little jedi (I've seen other people use this and it's so cute)
> 
> Gotta say that I had a bit of trouble with this chapter, I had to rewrite the middle bc it got _real_ angsty in my drafts which just didn't match the other vibes for this fic. I do have that saved though so I might post it as an extra after this fic ends.
> 
> I saw that a lot of people were wondering if Din would recognize Ahsoka or any of the clones seeing how he knows Older Ahsoka and Boba from his time. At the moment Obi-wan is the only person who's actually told Din their name so he's just been hoping that the names being said are correct. 
> 
> Din is not most likely not going to meet Pre Vizsla but if he did it would probably turn out like this:
> 
> Din: Is that my sword?  
> Pre: What? No this is the darksaber!  
> Din, pulling out his darksaber: No this is the darksaber. Did you copy my sword?  
> Pre: The darksaber is a one of a kind weapon!  
> Din: Listen I've seen a lot of swords, the Jedi have them too.  
> Pre: I am going to kill you now.  
> Din, sighing: of course you are.
> 
> I have classes the rest of the week so I won't be able to write until the weekend so till then have a great ending to your week!


	4. Obi-wan has to be the adult

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-wan deals with what has happened so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short! It originally was going to be from Din's POV last chapter but felt off so I split it into it's own with Obi-wan's POV.  
> Enjoy!

Obi-wan would like it on record that he most definitely did not freak out when faced with the Darksaber. He reacted as any Jedi should, with serenity, and anything Anakin says is a _karking lie._ Rather than interacting with the Mand’alor further, Obi-wan had decided that the best course of action was to devote the trek back to the ship going over the man’s troubling answers. At first he could’ve been written off as a member of the death watch, mascaraing to gain access to whatever Pre Vizsta was after. But the force sang of the truth at the man’s words, and the child in his arms gave no sign of pain or distress.

Obi-wan didn’t truly want to believe Anakin’s theory of Time Travel but the more the man spoke the harder it was to ignore that line of thought. He could understand being able to fake not knowing things about Jedi, yet the Mand’alor wasn’t prepared for any of the questions. Obi-wan had watched the man give thought to each answer and did so in such a way that it was clear he’d never had known the correct answers in the first place! 

“This is truly vexing”, Obi-wan mumbled as they came up upon the ship.

“What is Master?”

Obi-wan blinked, pulled from his thoughts by his former padawan. Anakin was standing quite close, any closer in fact and the bo- no the young man would have been attached to him.

“The fact that I know I taught you about personal space and yet you always find a way to share mine, dear one.” Obi-wan smiled in a way that he hoped was comforting.

Anakin didn’t look upset… ah worried, Anakin looked worried at whatever expression was on Obi-wan’s face currently. Kark, if Anakin could tell that he was _concerned_ about the recent events then maybe this affair had affected him more than he first thought. Perhaps after this council meeting he’d have time to just… sit in the dark? Read? Oh force he truly needed a hobby that didn’t revolve around the war. 

“I’m fine Anakin.” He sent a wave of calm through the force.

Anakin smiled and nudged some joy back at him, and then nudged him in the side as well. Brat.

The ride back to the Negotiator was rather uneventful. The Mand’alor spent it sitting with his child secure in his lap. His spear which was mostly like pure beskar to match his armor, was resting next to him on the wall. Ahsoka had been slowly moving closer to take a closer look at the child. Which was for the best, Obi-wan may be unsure about the man but was certain that at the very least he would not attack a youngling. In fact if he focused he could feel the amusement radiating off the man as the youngest members of their party attempted to secretly interact.

Getting off the smaller vessel, Obi-wan led the way as they headed to the comms room. Most of the clones that had joined them broke off as they left the hanger, leaving only Rex and Cody to stay with the group. Entering the room Obi-wan turned to face the Mand’alor.

“Here you are Mand’alor, you can make your calls as promised.”

The man gave another slight nod, which was another thing making this situation so hard. Obi-wan couldn’t look for any issues or falsities if the man rarely spoke. He moved out of the way to let the armored man head to one of the comms. Taking the man in Obi-wan searched for any clues that could cue him in on whatever was the truth of the situation. There wasn’t much to use. The man’s armor was obviously pure beskar, but had yet to be painted. He had a sigil on one of his pauldrons but Obi-wan couldn’t get a good view of it. His weapons didn’t help either. The man used a spear and had the darksaber, but those aren’t new technology. He also seemed to have a pistol of some sort, which had yet to be drawn so Obi-wan had no idea of the model.

Waves of frustration came off of the Mand’alor. He gave an angered exhale before turning around.

“You’re comms are broken.”

Obi-wan raised an eyebrow.

“They keep saying that Luke’s code doesn’t exist.” The man growled, “I can’t even get in contact with any Mandalorians either.”

“The comms aren’t broken.” Anakin explained, “The codes probably just don’t exist.”

The man was silent, staring at Anakin with disbelief seeping out of him. It was, and Obi-wan really should’ve spent more of Anakin’s padawanship working on tact, slowly turning into frustration.

“Anakin.” Obi-wan cleared his throat, “How about you take the Mand’alor and his child to get something from the cafeteria? Cody and I will look into what is going on with the comms.”

Anakin stared at him, and Obi-wan silently shouted through the force to just keep the man occupied. 

“Oh! Oh, uh, yeah. Follow me Mando it might take them a while.” Anakin gestured to the door, “Snips, Rex you’re both with me.” 

Obi-wan watched the group depart, giving Anakin a thankful nod. As the door slide closed behind them he let out a sigh. Looking over he could see Cody at the terminal the Mand’alor had been attempting to use. He joined his commander and looked over the man’s shoulder. Cody was currently copying down the codes that had failed to work, good they’ll have some people look into them later. 

“Sir?”

“Yes Cody?”

Cody turned to look at him, “You don’t _really_ believe this whole time travel thing, right?”

“I would like to assure you that I didn’t,” Obi-wan sighed, “But I would prefer a time traveling ancient Mandalorian to the alternative.”

“The alternative?”

“If the man is of our time then we have the new Mand’alor aboard our ship. The only way to gain the Darksaber is through combat, most likely meaning that the man would’ve had to kill Pre Vizsta.” Obi-wan crossed his arms, “Not to mention that he has a force sensitive child with him as well.”

Cody leaned against the wall, “And there’s the whole ‘Luke’ thing.”

“Yes. Either Luke is a Jedi from the past or we have a rogue force user claiming to be a Jedi that’s working with Mandalorians.”

“You don’t think that Luke might be a…”

“A sith?” Obi-wan grimaced, they had too many of those running around these days, “I don’t want to rule the possibility out, which is why I need to contact the council. If we’re lucky then there's a record of Luke in the archives.”

“And if we’re not?”

“Then we can only hope that what the Mand’alor answered is true.”

Obi-wan turned to the terminal and called up the council. He and Cody waited in silence as the call rang. After what seemed like an eternity the two were greeted with the tiny blue versions of the councilors still on Corusaunt.

“Master Kenobi? How goes your investigation?”

“We’ve come across… a situation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Obi-wan does get to curse I think he deserves it.
> 
> I finally got through all the exposition I needed so from now on it will be more shenaigans! Also sorry for the cliff hanger but I just couldn't write a council meeting that sounded good to me ;-;
> 
> For anyone wondering the current view of the events are this:  
> Anakin: 100% on board with the time travel thing  
> Obi-wan and Cody: Don't believe the time travel thing but prefer it to what else might bc going on  
> Ahsoka and Rex: Not completely on board with time travel but are buying into what Anakin is selling  
> Din: Has not been told about time travel yet  
> Grogu: ᕙ(•‿‿•)ᕗ


	5. Din adopts some clones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din meets with some clones, and realizes a lot of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a super fun chapter to write! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Din was starting to get… antsy about the situation. Firstly all of the tech here was outdated yet it looked new. Then none of the codes he had worked. He _knew_ those codes, knew Luke’s to always be able to call even if he didn’t have his comm, knew Boba’s and Cara’s and the Armorer’s and Paz’s and all the clan leaders. Even knew Bo-katan’s, though that was so he could ignore her calls, and none of them worked. It wasn’t even that they didn’t pick up, they didn’t _exist_. Which Anakin seemed to not be surprised by.

It was starting to get old, this whole thing the Jedi and other Mandalorians were doing. Din’s not an idiot, he knows when he’s being kept out of the loop, especially when it’s on purpose. But without much information he pretended to ignore the pleading stare Obi-wan gave Anakin and allowed himself to be herded towards the cafeteria. With how much Grogu ate and how long it had probably been since his ad last had some food it was probably for the best.

Entering the cafeteria Din was greeted to a large group of Mandalorians, some with their helmets on but most with them off. He paused unsure if they would want to keep their helmets off with a stranger in the room, he may still feel uncomfortable removing his helmet to anyone that wasn’t Grogu but did not know if these Mandalorians were different. He felt stares on him as the loud conversations taking place quieted and ended at his presence, but with no one shooting him or moving to put on their helmet Din decided that he could enter without issue. 

Walking in he was once again ushered to a table where Mandalorains were sitting. He noticed the patterns on their armor and recognized them as the blue Mandos from the temple. Their helmets were off so he could take… a… closer look at the… 

“Are you related?” He blurted out.

That got a laugh from the men, it sounded… familiar like he had heard it before. He could hear Rex snickering beside him and the two Jedi were trying hard to not laugh in his face.

Rex removed his helmet sitting down at the table. He too shared the same face as the ones across from him. 

“Yeah, you could say that.” Rex smiled, another thing that reminded him of someone, yet he couldn’t place who.

Looking around Din realized that the entire room was full of the same man, they had differences of course. Hair length, hair color, tattoos, beards, but each face at its base was the exact same. And they all looked extremely familiar, like someone Din was _close to_. It was Snips who caught on to his confusion first.

“They’re clones.” She began, “All made from the same DNA, a Mandalorian named Jango Fett.”

Din froze. Jango Fett, a familiar laugh, faces that Din knew yet weren’t quite right. All of these men looked like Boba. Not exactly like him, Boba was older than the young men in the cafeteria and his scarring from the sarlacc pit had changed his face as well. But Din would’ve known if Boba had an army of vod working with jedi and- Wait. Clones. Din searched his memories and was brought back to his first adventure with his ori’vod.

_You are a clone. I’ve heard your voice thousands of times. Bo-katan said with such **malice**._

_Boba shrugged, “Let’s just say they’ll recognize my face.”_

Din had assumed that Bo-katan was talking about how Boba wore his buir’s armor, not his own. Din knew that Boba had taken bounties for the Empire, his ori’vod had been all alone and trying to survive, he couldn’t blame him for past mistakes that the man was trying to set right. But seeing the collection of men with Boba’s face, learning that they were clones of Boba’s buir, Din realized that the man was literally a copy of his buir. He didn’t feel upset, except for the fact that suddenly Boba went from being slightly cryptic to being the funniest man Din knew. Looking at him in this light his ori’vod had been making jokes the _entire_ time Din knew him and they just flew over his head, that _sheb_.

Wait. If these were clones and Boba was a clone then… It hit him, the old tech, the clones, the unknown Jedi, the codes that didn’t exist. Din felt a bit crazy with his current line of thought, but he couldn’t deny that all of these things added up to the conclusion that through some force osik he and Grogu had ended up some odd years in the past. Din really should have paid more attention to Luke’s lessons on the Jedi and Leia’s attempts at teaching him about the New Republic.

“Um, Mando?”

Din snapped back to his surroundings. The clones in front of him seemed nervous and the cafeteria had gone deathly silent. He noticed that both Jedi were staring at him with judging eyes. Looking down he found Rex worrying his lip between his teeth. The man shifted and met his eyes, years of wearing a helmet must’ve taught him how to find eyes even when they were hidden.

“Listen,” Rex straightened up, his change in posture creating an air of confidence, “We didn’t mean to make you think we were… Mandalorians. There wasn’t any time to explain and I understand if you feel uncomfo-” 

Din blanked out, his ears filled only with the sound of his blood pumping. Osik, Rex thought that he didn’t see them as Mandalorians. He needed to fix this, if they saw each other as vod and Boba was one of them then didn’t that make them his _vod_? And Din refused to be as close minded as Bo-katan was. What could he do to fix this? What would Boba do?

Din cleared his throat, interrupting whatever Rex had been rambling about. The clones around him seemed to hold their breath awaiting what Din would say.

“You’re exactly like my ori’vod.” That was perfect, a joke about how they were clones. Din could almost hear the deep laugh of Boba. And to think that Cara said he had no sense of humor.

As for Rex, the man was stunned. He had wide eyes and his mouth slightly ajar. The clones around him were the same, the deafening silence was now shocked. Din stood there awkwardly unsure of what was wrong.

“Vod?” He asked, hoping that would stir something in the room.

That one word seemed to spring things back into action. The silence in the room turned to sighs of relief, in front of him Rex was blinking again and again and again. The clone took a shuddering breath and gave Din a small smile. Din didn’t focus on that, instead he tried to orient himself in the timeline. If he was in the past, with Boba’s _vod_ , then it would be easier to put himself relative to his ori’vod’s age. He didn’t know exactly how old Boba was just that the man was older than him. He didn’t seem that much older though and Paz didn’t get the same cooing name of vod’ika that Din was given. Paz was 3? Maybe 4 years older then Din so Boba was probably in his late 30s or early 40s. Din could work with that estimate.

Din sat down next to rex, placing Grogu on the table. His ad walked across to Snips, who lit up, she went to pick him up but stopped to look at Din. He gave a nod before turning to face Rex. The man still seemed a bit shaky and Din ignored the watery shine to his eyes. 

“How old are you?”

The question startled Rex and he looked a bit panicked, it was only for a fraction of a second before smoothing out into calm. 

“I’m around 20.” That got a snort from one of the other clones at the table, the man had a goatee and the number 5 tattooed on his forehead. Rex gave him a look that earned him a mischievous grin in return.

“Around 20?” Din questioned, did the man not know his own age?

Rex opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the other clone. 

“He’s 10!” The clone snickered,”We’ve all got accelerated aging so we estimate our supposed ages.”

Din was glad for his helmet because he was sure that his face was one of pure shock. Accelerated aging. Did Boba have accelerated aging? If Rex looked 20 at 10 then was Boba actually younger than Din? Wait… if Rex was 10 then most likely the rest of the clones were around that age as well. Were the Jedi using ade as soldiers? Did Jango know about what was going on with his ade? Din’s thoughts were racing, even if all of the men regarded themselves as 20 year olds they still should have someone there for them. And if they had accelerated aging then none of them would’ve had a full childhood before becoming a soldier. He made a mental note to take care of his new vod for his stay here. Not to mention that Anakin didn’t seem much older and Snips was even younger than him! The only adult was Obi-wan but he was a Jedi not a Mandalorian.

Focusing back to his original plan he tried to calculate an estimate in his head, If the men were 20 then it was most likely that Din was at least 20 years from his time. 20 years… he would’ve still been with his parents not knowing of the fate that would come to him and his town. His covert would still be out there, not yet hidden from the world. Mandalore would have a different ruler… 

“Who’s the current Mand’alor?” He asked, maybe they could give him some advice on how to run a people. 

Anakin choked on his drink, coughing up the water that had gone down the wrong way. He cleared his throat once he had caught his breath.

“So… you’ve figured it out as well?” Anakin strained.

“Figured it out?”

Anakin lazily waved his hand around, “The whole, ya know, time thing.”

Din blinked. The Jedi knew he traveled in time. Was that what they had been trying to keep him from knowing about? A smart move, if Din had been told before figuring it out himself he would never have believed them.

“Yes… the time thing.” Din nodded.

The Jedi let out a relieved sigh, slouching forward to lean his elbows on the table.

“Oh thank the force.” Anakin laughed, “Here I was wondering how to break it to you and you already put it together.”

“So it is a Jedi thing then?” 

Anakin nodded, “That’s what I’m guessing, the force felt weird when you arrived in our time. It was like you had been picked up from your present and dropped into ours.”

Din hummed, of course it would be the Jedi’s magic that would do this. He could see why the Mandalorians of the past would attack them, especially if they could cause things like this without warning. At least they were aware of it, better to leave the weird magic to the people who use it. 

Glancing across the table Din was happy to find that Grogu and Snips were getting along. The girl seemed to be secretly stealing food off of the plate that belonged to the clone next to her, and was feeding it to his ad. He smiled softly at the sight, it always made him happy to see his ad’ika getting along with others. 

“Don’t feed him too much jed’ika.” He chuckled, interrupting whatever Anakin had been rambling. “He won’t tell you when he’s full.”

Snips paused mid-attempt at grabbing another piece, face stuck in surprise at being caught. Din laughed again, it was the same face all ad made when an adult revealed that they’d been watching. It seemed however that the rest of the table had not noticed the two little food thieves.

“Commander!” The clone next to her whined, “I was eating that!”

Snips, who was definitely too young to be a commander, gave the clone a wide grin. “Maybe you should pay better attention to your surroundings then.”

She then turned her attention to Din and he tilted his head inviting whatever the curious jed’ika wanted to ask out.

“You called me ge-jid-”

“Jed’ika?” Din finished for her.

“Yeah, that! What does it mean?” All eyes were on him again. He cleared his throat.

“It means little jedi. I call my ad’s friends that as well.” He explained, “You’re younger than both Obi-wan and Anakin so it’s appropriate.” Din shrugged.

Across from him Anakin stilled, before leaning over the table to stare suspiciously at Din.

“How’d you know my name was Anakin?” He asked.

Din paused, “Your ori’vod called you that. Is… Is your name not Anakin?” 

“Oh-re vod?” Snips questioned again, interrupting Anakin’s response.

“Older sibling,” He looked back to Anakin, “Obi-wan is your older brother correct? I don’t know much about relations in Jedi but he clearly cares for you.”

Anakin stared at Din in complete disbelief. The gears in his head were very clearly turning at full speed to figure out what Din’s words meant. It was slightly concerning that the young man was surprised at his statement. Osik, was that different in Jedi culture? Luke had Leia and they were brother and sister, but this was the past so maybe things were different back then? Or did Anakin not see himself and Obi-wan as brothers? The two were close… Was Obi-wan Anakin’s buir?

“It’s not like that.” Anakin finally mumbled out. Ah so he was Anakin’s buir then.

Din didn’t blame Anakin for feeling uncomfortable. After all, he had just assumed that Anakin’s buir was only slightly older than the young man. He would’ve been put off if someone he just met thought that _his buir_ was around his age. Maybe he should talk to Obi-wan, get some tips on how to raise an ad with magic.

“Sorry.” 

Anakin waved him off, “It’s fine, you didn’t know.”

Din stared off for a bit after that, letting his mind wonder as the conversations around him picked up once more. He noticed that Anakin also seemed to be drifting as well, watching over Snips as she began talking with the clones next to them. He learned that their names were Fives, did he really tattoo his name on his face, and Echo. It was… peaceful, Din couldn’t remember the last time that he could just breath. No one asking for advice or input on something, no politicians trying to convince him about allying Mandalore with their planets, and no one trying to fight him without warning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a:  
> 1\. Osik - shit  
> 2\. Sheb - ass  
> 3\. Ade - children  
> 4\. Buir - parent
> 
> Listen I am 100% for Himbo Din, but he isn't dumb enough to not realize that all of these things add up to time travel. Of course now that he thinks that everyone else knows he's from the future he won't try to do anything to clear that up. 
> 
> I saw in the comments people wondering about the clones and boba (and I do read every comment! thank you for the love ;^;) and I hope you liked Din's reaction to just be "well if boba is my brother then his brothers are also my brothers" 
> 
> Also Anakin's having a slight crisis about the fact that this Mando just told him that Obi-wan clearly loves him. This will come back up later bc surprise! This fic is a fix-it! And here's the little convo for this chapter (I do at least one each chapter to get the feel down lol)
> 
> Anakin: I need to tell you something Mand'alor  
> Din: Sure.  
> Anakin: We believe that you have traveled through time.  
> Din, thinking Anakin means back in time: Yeah I figured that out, things are so different.  
> Anakin, meaning that Din has traveled to the future: You seem pretty well adjusted for all this  
> Din, shrugging: Eh


	6. Luke's views of Vader are biased

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din explains his war, but most of what he knows comes from secondhand accounts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter to make up for my lack of updating, Enjoy!!

Din had no idea how long he spent staring into space at that table, just breathing and taking in the sounds around him. He learned that Snips was _Ahsoka_. It was crazy to see such a calm adult as an energetic kid. His mind once again drifted to think about his childhood, Din could barely remember much of his parents before his Buir saved him. Was a little version of him out there? Running around, not knowing of the weight of his future? It was a shocking thought and Din was relieved when Anakin got a message on his comm. The Jedi sadly informed everyone that their break was over. 

Following Anakin out of the cafeteria Din found himself and Grogu led down a series of hallways. Ahsoka said hello to a few curious clones along the way and asked for rainchecks on plans that apparently had been made. Eventually they found themselves entering a room, it was small with just a bunk bed, table, and a few chairs inside. Standing in the middle of the room were Obi-wan and Cody, the two talking in hushed tones but quickly stopped as everyone joined them in the room.

Obi-wan turned to face them,“I hope you didn’t mind the cafeteria, we don’t exactly have access to food that isn’t rations.”

“Kid’s eaten worse.” Like frogs, and spiders, and goop, and _frogs_ and eggs, an-

“Right.” Obi-wan broke him from his thoughts as he gestured to the chairs, which Din now noticed were arranged in a circle near the bed, “Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll explain the current situation.”

Din nodded, he moved to sit next to the bed. Placing Grogu down he fluffed the pillow and tucked his ad’ika in, watching as he fell asleep instantly. Once he was certain that the blanket was snug Din sat down, placing his spear to rest on the wall between him and the bed. He looked up to see that the rest of the group had all claimed seats as well. Rex was directly next to him, then Ahsoka, Anakin, Obi-wan, and finally Cody sitting across from him. They all looked charmed at his sleeping ad, as they should, and Din settled in for the talk.

Obi-wan cleared his throat, “I was able to get in contact with the Jedi council and they are working on tracking down anything we may have on your Luke.”

“Will you be able to find anything?” Din asked, “Since there’s the whole…”

“Whole...” Obi-wan raised an eyebrow.

“Time thing.” 

Din watched as Obi-wan took a sharp breath in, eyes going wide. The man abruptly stood up, pulling Anakin from his chair and into a refresher attached to the room. Looking back he found that Cody had removed his helmet and was massaging his temples. The clone looked up at Din with tired eyes.

“Did Skywalker convince you of that,” Cody sighed, “Or did you overhear us earlier?”

“I… figured it out on my own.”

Cody’s head fell into his hands as he let out a low groan. Din turned to Grogu and started checking in on his ad, making sure he was still tucked in and not distressed. He ignored the occasional muted shout from the refresher, and silently hoped that this would be over soon. After a few minutes of fidgeting with the blanket Din took a look back at the other’s in the room with him. Cody still was in the same position, bent over in his chair with elbows on his legs and head in his hands. Rex and Ahsoka had moved their chairs to face the table, and started a game of sabacc. Rex was clearly losing, to the clone’s annoyance and Ahsoka’s joy.

Din leaned over, looking over the clone’s shoulder to see his cards. It wasn’t a bad hand but it also wasn’t the best. He drew a card for Rex and swapped it out with one in the clone’s hand, deciding that no vod of his was gonna lose this badly. He spent the next few minutes aiding Rex as they both tried to save some of the clone’s dignity after losing to a teenager. Eventually the door to the refresher slid open, revealing a sheepish Anakin and resigned Obi-wan. They returned to their seats and waited as the cards were cleaned up and chairs put back into the semicircle they had started in.

Obi-wan sighed, “Well I suppose this makes this easier.”

“What do you mean?” Din crossed his arms, “Makes what easier?”

“The council, high council of our time’s Jedi that is, are interested in hearing about your time. They think it might be beneficial to us as well as our war.” 

Din relaxed at that, before tensing. He didn’t have much knowledge of the war that led to the Empire. Not to mention-

“Should I be telling you this? With all the time stuff, what if things change?”

Obi-wan waved him off, “If damage was to be done to the timeline we would already have seen changes, it seems that the time stream is tougher than we would think.”

That made sense. “Alright... I have to warn you, most of what I know is from Luke. My clan stayed out of the fighting to survive and afterwards I was more focused on helping them then keeping track of who’s in power.”

“Of course. We can’t expect you to know every bit of history from a culture that you don’t belong to.”

“I suppose the most important parts of the war would be the Empire” Din started, “It was led by the Emperor and Darth Vader.”

Din could feel the room grow cold, the Jedi and Clones freezing as Vader’s name left his lips. It made him pause, no one moved as if it would summon the giant warrior to the room. Obi-wan shifted, looking to Anakin before locking eyes with Din.

“Darth Vader?” The man breathed out, “So your war _was_ Jedi versus Sith, same as ours.”

“He was in charge of the Empire’s armies, I only know what Luke and my Ovi’vod told me about him. They actually knew and spoke to him instead of just hearing what was being said about him through rumors and reporters.” 

Obi-wan’s brow furrowed, “Your brother knew him?” He questioned, “How did your brother meet Vader?”

Anakin nodded in agreement, “Yeah, It makes sense that Luke would’ve come in contact with the Sith, but why would your brother have talked to Vader?”

Din sighed, “He was... in a bad place before joining my clan, his family had been killed in the war that created the Empire and he needed the money to survive. When the Empire was in power it was hard to find bounties not being made by them, but he’s changed now. His alliance is to mandalore and our clan won’t let him be alone like that ever again.” Fennec would probably shoot the man if Boba even thought about working for the Empire at this point.

“You must care for him a lot.” Cody’s voice was soft, as if the man was trying to keep it kind.

Din looked to Grogu, avoiding the stares from the rest of the room. “The Empire would still have my ad’ika if he had not been there. He... had met Jedi before and still saw them as an enemy”, He looked to the Jedi, “But he’s realized his mistakes.” 

“That's good to hear,” Obi-wan smiled before sobering, “Going back, You described the Emperor and Vader in the past tense? I’m assuming that they’re gone then, how did that happen?”

“Luke happened. The reports will tell you that that Luke killed both Vader and the Emperor before their base exploded, ending the war.”

“And off the record?” Rex questioned.

“For that you’ll need some context,” Din began, “Luke told me that Vader was a Jedi, and my Ori’vod confirmed that fact. From what Luke has told me there’s dark and light magic-”

“Sides of the force.” Obi-wan interrupted.

Din stared at the man, annoyance leaking through his armor. “...There’s dark and light magic,” He continued, “Vader had been a Jedi before being consumed by the Emperor’s darkness. It distorted him, making him a monster of a man.”

Anakin sat forward in his seat, “Vader was a fallen Jedi?”

Din nodded. The room fell quiet once more, the three Jedi turning a bit pale at the knowledge of one of their own becoming an enemy. He wondered where Vader was right now, had the Emperor of this time already gotten to the man or was he still as good as Luke described him as. Maybe… Maybe if Din could find the man there would still be time to save him from his fate, he refused to condemn a man for actions he had not yet taken especially if there still was a chance of saving him. 

Perhaps he could venture to Tatooine and look for Luke’s teacher Ben, if the man had taught Vader then he would know of his whereabouts in the past. Luke had said that the old man had been a hermit wandering the dunes for as long as he could remember. Din looked at the Jedi in front of him, he couldn’t imagine Luke’s Old Ben ever having been a general like Obi-wan or Anakin. The elderly jedi most likely avoided this war altogether living out in those dunes.

“How’d he fall?” Ahsoka quietly asked, the girl had pulled her knees up to her chest. Her arms hugging them tight to her body.

“I’m not sure,” Din responded, “Luke told me that Vader had lost his wife before the Empire rose to power, she died in childbirth and the Emperor took advantage of her death to gain control of him.”

That startled Anakin back into the conversation, “A _wife_?”

“Yes?” Din looked to Obi-wan unsure at the younger Jedi’s surprise.

Obi-wan, however, only looked confused, “Are you sure that he was a Jedi? Our code doesn’t allow for marriage.”

“Yes. Luke found the marriage certificate when looking into Vader, he wanted to know who his mother was.”

Anakin’s eyes grew wide, “His mother? What would Vader’s marriage have to do with Luk-” He gasped, “Is Luke Vader’s _son_?”

“Yes. That’s how they won in the end.” Din explained.

Obi-wan ignored Anakin’s silent confusion, “What do you mean?”

“Luke told me that at the end, Vader abandoned his master and returned to the light.” Din shrugged, “He killed the Emperor to save Luke, to save the galaxy.”

“He returned to the light?” Obi-wan quickly looked at Cody before turning back to Din, confusion clear on the Jedi’s face, “That’s impossible.”

“Do you think Luke would lie about this?” Din questioned.

Obi-wan shook his head, “No of course not, I just meant that I’ve never heard of a Sith returning to the light before. How did Vader manage to do so?”

Din gathered his thoughts, looking back at what both Boba and Luke had told him about Vader, about the man that had been Luke’s father. He snuck a look at Grogu, who was making little huffs in his sleep. Looking back to Obi-wan he carefully picked what words to use.

“I think… I think that in the end, his love for his child was stronger than the hurt in his heart. The Emperor… was able to twist Vader’s grief over his wife to justify revenge on the galaxy that had failed to save her, but for all the power the Emperor had, he could never manage to justify killing the child Vader’s wife had created.”

Rex cleared his throat, “So the Sith killed each other then?”

“Yeah. I guess they did.” 

“I suppose that hate can only go so far”, Obi-wan stroked his beard, “Vader must've realized that holding onto the pain of his wife’s death was worse than letting it go.”

Anakin bristled, he scowled at Obi-wan, “You’re not suggesting that he should've forgotten her, are you?”

“No.” Obi-wan rested his arm on Anakin’s shoulder, “I think that he was remembering the hurt of losing her, instead of the love he had for her. He crossed the line between Love and Obsession, and that's most likely when he fell.” 

Obi-wan turned back to Din, “As Jedi we can not cross that line.” He explained, “The Sith pervert love, twisting it into a nasty creature that consumes them until only greed and darkness remains.” Anakin’s face moved from anger to confusion, as if Obi-wan had given him a puzzle to crack but he did not understand how to start.

“So your war ended, Empire gone.” Cody listed off, “What happened next?”

Din leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms, “It's only been about 5 years or so since the Empire fell. I became Mand'alor recently and have been working with the other clans to rebuild Mandalore now that we don't have to worry about Empire interference.” He sighed, “There's a republic but with all the planets trying to figure things out not much progress has been made.”

“And Luke has been helping with that?” Obi-wan tilted his head.

Din chuckled, “No. Luke is focusing on rebuilding the Jedi, his sister Leia is dealing with politics.”

Obi-wan narrowed his eyes, “A sister? Is she also a Jedi?”

Din shook his head, “Politician.”

Obi-wan hummed in understanding, “This has been... enlightening. Thank you even if it doesn't seem like it, it will be quite useful for the council to have this information.”

“Course.” Any information about their war is probably good information. 

“Now, I'm sure you're curious as to what is going to happen.” Obi-wan started. “We are currently returning to the temple on Coruscant. You'll have to meet with the council and then we'll settle you into some quarters as people look into your temple to try and send you home.”

Cody jumped in, “It's gonna take us about a day or so to reach there, please don't explore without a guide.” He already looked tired, as if seeing the trouble a lost Mandalorian could cause, “These will be your quarters as we head back, if anything is wrong with them just let me know and I'll get it fixed.”

Din nodded, “Thank you.” The quarters were nice, better than some places he had slept before. A bed for both him and Grogu, a refresher to themselves, it was a good setup for the trip back.

“Well,” Obi-wan got up from his chair, stretching out his arms as his back gave a crack, “Today has been rather hectic, we'll leave you to rest.”

With that the others seemed to jump into motion. They gathered their chairs, Rex and Cody folding the ones that did not belong to the room. Obi-wan shook Anakin out of his thoughts, checking in with the man and not moving away until Anakin stood and collected his chair as well. With things put back the room had two chairs to the little table included in it. Rex and Cody left first, carrying out the extra chairs to return then to wherever they came from. 

Before the Jedi could leave, Din cleared his throat, drawing their attention, “I… actually have a few questions for you Obi-wan, if you don't mind staying.”

Obi-wan looked to Ahsoka, the two having a silent conversation. The girl eventually gave a sharp nod and pulled Anakin out of the room and into a conversation as the two left down the hall. 

“Of course” Obi-wan smiled, moving to sit at the table and gesturing for Din to do the same. “What is it that you need?”

Din moved his chair to the table, “How'd you do it?”

Obi-wan blinked, “Do what?”

“How'd you survive raising a child with powers?”

Obi-wan chuckled, “Well it helped that I too was once a child with powers,” He stroked his beard, “But I suppose I do have some tricks I can teach you.”

Din let out a sigh, “ _Thank you_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lack of updates, school has picked up so I don't have the same amount of freedom that I did before! I have been planning out the chapters though so when I do have time to write that part is set up for me.
> 
> Vader has finally been introduced! It was hard trying to balance what Din would've known based off of propaganda and Luke's accounts but I think I found a nice middle ground. I actually made this list in my notes while trying to figure out what Din would know:
> 
> Things Din knows about Darth Vader:  
> -Worked for the empire (Boba says he sucked)  
> -Was a Jedi (both Boba and Luke confirmed this)  
> -Powerhouse, super strong  
> -Came back to the light (force thing)  
> -Luke's dad??? (Still confused on this one)  
> -Killed the emperor (According to Luke)  
> -Is not a droid but was mostly mechanical
> 
> Things Din does not know about Darth Vader:  
> -He was Anakin Skywalker
> 
> Updates are not going to be regular from now on but I will try to get a chapter out asap, so thanks for sticking around!

**Author's Note:**

> I have a star wars side blog! If you would like to talk to me about my fics (or suggest anything) visit me at spectacularspectacular on tumblr!


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